The San Francisco calamity by earthquake and fire eBook

We are by no means so free from the earthquake.
Slight movements of the earth’s surface are
much more common than many of us imagine, and in the
history of our land there have been a number of earth
shocks of considerable violence. Prior to that
of San Francisco, the most destructive to life and
property was that of Charleston in 1886, though the
1812 convulsion in the Mississippi Valley might have
proved a much greater calamity but for the fact that
civilized man had not then largely invaded its centre
of action.

As regards the number of earth movements in this country,
we are told that in New England alone 231 were recorded
in two hundred and fifty years, while doubtless many
slighter ones were left unrecorded. Taking the
whole United States, there were 364 recorded in the
twelve years from 1872 to 1883, and in 1885 fifty-nine
were recorded, more than two-thirds of them being
on the Pacific slope. Most of these, however,
were very slight, some of them barely perceptible.

Confining ourselves to those of the past important
in their effects, we shall first speak of the shocks
which took place in New England in 1755, in the year
and month of the great earthquake at Lisbon. On
the 18th of November of that year, while the shocks
at Lisbon still continued, New England was violently
shaken, loud underground explosive noises accompanying
the shocks. In the harbors along the Atlantic
coast there was much agitation of the waters and many
dead fish were thrown up on the shores. The shock,
indeed, was felt far from the coast, by the crew of
a ship more than two hundred miles out at sea from
Cape Ann, Massachusetts.

This event, however, was of minor importance, being
much inferior to that of 1812, in which year California
and the Mississippi Valley alike were affected by
violent movements of the earth’s crust.
The California convulsions took place in the spring
and summer of that year, extending from the beginning
of May until September. Throughout May the southern
portion of that region was violently agitated, the
shocks being so frequent and severe that people abandoned
their houses and slept on the open ground. The
most destructive shocks came in September, when two
Mission houses were destroyed and many of their inmates
killed. At Santa Barbara a tidal wave invaded
the coast and flowed some distance into the interior.

It may be said here that California has proved more
subject to severe shocks than any other section of
our country. In 1865 sharp tremors shook the
whole region about the Bay of San Francisco, many buildings
being thrown down. Hardly any of brick or stone
escaped injury, though few lives were lost. In
1872 a disturbance was felt farther west, the whole
range of the Sierra Nevada mountains being violently
shaken and the earth tremblings extending into the
State of Nevada. The centre of activity was along
the crest of the range, and immense quantities of
rock were thrown down from the mountain pinnacles.